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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26284123">Love Born From Despair</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee'>Nadja_Lee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shadowhunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Background Magnus Bane/Dot Rollins, Fluff, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Torture, Love Confessions, M/M, Self-Sacrificing Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:14:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26284123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec went to Edom to save Jace from the Owl. After hundreds of years serving as Hell’s loyal general Alec is finally back on Earth where only months passed. He tries to get his life back as it was, but he has changed too much; there’s too much blood on his hands now.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alec Lightwood/Jace Wayland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Hunter's Moon 500 Prompts, September Server Scavenger Hunt 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love Born From Despair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>500 word challenge for the word Scale(s).<br/>Thanks so much to my beta readers: Cindy and Monochromatize.<br/>Thanks so much for the great art to Regina.<br/>Story warnings: Referenced Torture.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>When Alec realized Jace was possessed by the Owl he contacted Asmodeus and made a deal: if Asmodeus freed Jace from the Owl and made Magnus High Warlock again Alec would give him his soul and be his to command.</p><p>Alec helped Asmodeus gain full control over all Hell dimensions, killing and torturing all in his path; starting with Lilith. The war lasted for hundreds of years in Hell, but only a few months passed on Earth.</p><p>Finally, reigning supreme, Asmodeus let Alec return to Earth, his soul forever tainted.</p><p>Alec tried to stay with Magnus, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t the boy Magnus remembered; he had become a killer. Magnus didn’t want to see the blood on his hands, the scales having tipped. Knowing it was the right thing to do Alec let him go before his darkness swallowed him up. Magnus started to date Dot, making Alec relieved to see him happy.</p><p>Alec had expected Jace and Clary to get together, but they never did. Jace was the only one who saw hints of Alec’s darkness as he couldn’t hide it completely in the bond, and yet Jace stayed.</p><p>One night when they had been drinking Alec kissed Jace; desperately, needy. He just wanted to feel something that wasn’t pain and darkness. For a few hours he did; Jace was sunlight and life.</p><p>When Alec awoke the next day, he wanted to run and hide before his darkness drowned Jace’s light. However, Jace would have none of it.</p><p>“Your darkness doesn’t scare me,” Jace told him, his voice insistent.</p><p>“Jace, I’m broken,” Alec protested softly.</p><p>“So am I. You saved me from a horrible fate that was mainly due to me lying to you.”</p><p>“You owe me nothing. We’re parabatai. I love you,” Alec automatically corrected him, the words the same that had helped him survive hundreds of years of darkness, torture and torment in Hell.</p><p>“I love you too,” Jace assured him, his voice soft and warm. His voice turned pleading as he added, “Let me love you.”</p><p>“I did horrible things, Jace. I have so much blood on my hands,” Alec told him, anguished.</p><p>“I know. It’s ok.”</p><p>“I killed and tortured people,” Alec warned, a darkness in his gaze that hadn’t been there before.</p><p>“You did what you had to.”</p><p>“I was good at it,” Alec admitted in a soft tone.</p><p>“Please….let me love you,” Jace pleaded again, stroking his cheek tenderly.</p><p>Alec looked him in the eyes, frozen tears he could no longer shed reflecting there.</p><p>“I’m drowning, Jace. Can you save me?” Alec begged desperately.</p><p>“Yes, for once let <em>me</em> save <em>you</em>. Let me protect you,” Jace asked heartfelt.</p><p>Alec only nodded as he let himself fall, knowing Jace would catch him.</p><p>The darkness was a part of him now, forever, but Jace wasn’t scared of the dark. He never had been.</p><p>He became Alec’s sun and together they created a love born from despair, need and pain to last a lifetime.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please leave a comment and a kudos (or just a kudos) if you enjoyed the story. It would mean a lot to me.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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